Radical hysterectomy and surgical menopause

Hi again MrsB44 and welcome to our group.

I was hoping you might have received a reply from someone in the same situation, but my reply will nudge your post to the top again where hopefully it will be seen and get replies today.

My situation was very different -my story is in my profile if you click on my name-but I have had several surgeries. My radical hysterectomy was one part of much larger surgery so my experience was very different to what you will go through. However, I did have a radical hysterectomy attempted with ovary removal at one point.

Tips for pre surgery-have some meals ready in the freezer for when you get home and might not feel like making anything. If you have help and family support then that will also be a benefit. Get family to do housework while you get some rest and recover. Are you having open abdominal surgery or keyhole-the recovery time is likely to be longer with open abdominal, which I had.

You might be in hospital for a few days, but I’d recommend not overpacking! Night shirts are easier than pyjamas, especially if you have a catheter initially, and it’s easier for the nurses to check your wound(s). You may spend the first day or so in a hospital gown so you won’t need a lot of clothes. Non slip slippers are useful once you are up and moving about, and loose clothing to account for your abdomen and be more comfortable. 

A long phone charger was crucial for me- sockets were behind my bed and not easy to reach without help. Some lip balm for the dry atmosphere and some body wipes so you can feel clean, with some nice body spray. It feels good to freshen up after surgery. An eye mask and headphones are very useful in busy wards where sleep at night can be difficult. 

Some snacks in your bag might be handy-sometimes the hospital food is not the most appealing! I took a pillow for the journey home and put it over my tummy in the car-our road has a lot of speed bumps and this helped. Surgery can affect your bowel as it doesn’t like getting moved about, so it’s useful to be ready in advance for potential constipation. I had a little stool in my loo to put my feet on and give a more natural position on the toilet. Stool softeners are easier on the system than laxatives if you have any issues in “going”. 

Rest if you need to and don’t try and push yourself to do too much initially. There’s a lot of healing to go on inside, even though you can’t see it. No heavy lifting or bending. 

I can’t help with advice about menopause or hrt as I was post menopausal, and I am disabled so can’t run, but I’m hopeful others will come along with some useful advice and tips for you. 

Good luck with your surgery and I hope you’ll be back to let us know how it goes. 

Sarah xx

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and those tips...really helpful. 

My surgery is open  so I will be in for 3 days after. 

Hi MrsB44 

I had a hysterectomy in February 2025. Mine was an open abdominal radical hysterectomy with removal of ovaries and pelvic lymph nodes for stage 1B2. If you click on my username, you will see a summary of my experience on my profile page.

I stayed in hospital for 3 nights after surgery (I was told in advance to expect to be discharged after 4 or 5 nights so it was nice to be ready to go home earlier than expected). I packed lots of things that I didn’t use (I’ve never been a light packer so that was no surprise!). Things I found really useful while I was in hospital: loose-fitting nighties; mule type slippers without backs so that I could easily slip my feet in and out; large pants (I ordered full briefs a size larger than my usual size but still found them a bit tight at first so ordered more two sizes larger than my usual size); body washing wipes for freshening up; long phone charger as the plug socket wasn’t very close; lip balm and hand cream - I used these a lot!; polo mints.

Things I found useful once I was back home: folding step for stepping over the side of the bath to use the shower (I don’t have a separate shower cubicle); stool softeners (I was prescribed some to bring home from the hospital then my GP prescribed when I needed more); mint tea and polos to help with trapped wind; 2 grabbing sticks (one for upstairs and one for downstairs) so that I didn’t need to ask for help every time I dropped/couldn’t reach something!; paracetamol and ibuprofen (I was given enough to last a few days when I came home from the hospital but it was useful to have more packets in the cupboard ready to use after that). I didn’t buy a v-shaped pillow to help me to sit comfortably in bed when I was resting but didn’t want to be lying down, however if I was turning back time then I think I would have found one useful as I struggled to get ordinary pillows in the right position. I put a waterproof fitted sheet on my mattress just in case as I knew in advance that I would be coming home with a catheter for the first week or so and I was glad that I did as I had an issue with the catheter night bag connection the first night I was home so there was a leak which then thankfully didn’t end up soaking into the mattress.

A few tips I found useful: recovery may not be linear, there may be ups and downs but this is normal and okay (however, check any concerns with your team to be sure and get reassurance); recovery will be different for everyone, take it at your own pace and don’t worry if other people recover more quickly than you - you will get there in the end; district nurses are amazing, especially if you need something out of GP hours but not an emergency for contacting the hospital - district nurses helped me with catheter supplies and were at my house to help within 30 minutes of phoning them (probably helped by my house being round the corner from their office). 

Lots of people kindly shared their tips and experience with me before I had surgery - I’ll try to add a link to the post below in case you would find it useful to read the replies:

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/cervical-cancer-forum/f/diagnosis-and-treatment/289825/radical-hysterectomy-pre-op-appointment-with-surgeon#pifragment-13906=1

I’m not a runner, but I was keen to get back to being active and exercising. My surgery was February and I was at pilates and walking the dog a decent distance by around the start of June then doing workouts at the gym by July. I started doing just a little and gradually built up. My pilates teacher is also a physio so it helped to have her guidance about how much to do/when to step exercise up a level. I remember that my recovery seemed very slow at the time, but now reflecting back this timeline doesn’t seem too extended (for me - everyone’s different). 

Surgical menopause has been okay for me. In the first few weeks after surgery before I could have HRT, I was having lots of hot flushes, night sweats and an increase in migraines. I was given the go-ahead by my consultant to start HRT around a month after surgery and my menopause symptoms improved pretty much straight away. I wasn’t on HRT before surgery so I don’t know how this compares to HRT with perimenopause.

Just realised that this is a very long reply so I’ll leave it there! If you think of any more questions, I’m happy to share my experience.

Best wishes,

Louise x

Thank you so much for taking the time to share that, really appreciated.